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tv   The Situation Room  CNN  August 16, 2013 5:00pm-7:00pm EDT

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she's 95th in the line of succession to queen elizabeth. so close and yet so far. now it's looking like she blew her chance. the only roost she will rule will probably be in prison. i now turn you over to the able hands of mr. wolf blitzer in "the situation room." take it away. thank you, jake. fresh bloodshed in egypt. and republicans are ready to bar some television networks from the next round of debates. and this will change baseball forever. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> a day of anger and depth in egypt. thousands of people are defying the government's curfew and
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voicing their political outrage on the streets of cairo, alexandria and other major egyptian cities. clashers between the muslim brotherhood leave thousands injured. what has this day and night been like, reza? >> it was another violent night. what makes reporting on these clashes so difficult is that it's virtually impossible to figure out who's firing first. security forces repeatedly say it's protesters who fire first. protesters say it's security forces who fired first. whoever is starting this, the response is ferocious gun fire by security forces. we personally witnessed at least 40 or 50 unarmed protesters
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being shot with bullets and bird shots. here's some of the awful scenes we witnessed earlier today. >> this is someone who appears to be injured. i see a whole in his side. come this way. okay. okay. it looks like he's been shot. and he looks remarkably calm. i see what appears to be a bullet round wound in his leg. as we've seen so often, one of the fellow demonstrators taking him on a motorcycle away and then i think we have another person who's injured. we have another person who appears to be injured on the ground here. let's see if we can -- okay. this is just an awful, awful scene.
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security forces again apparently opening fire on protesters. more dramatic images and pictures today. at one point there were hundreds of demonstrators marching on a cairo bridge when they apparently came under fire and in desperation dozens them literally jumped off the bridge or tried to climb down. that's about a 40 or 50-foot bridge. it's not clear if they made it down unscathed. today's violence, wolf, follows yesterday's apparent reprisal attacks, even churches stormed and torched in a conflict where there's no evidence it's going to end any time soon. >> what's happening now based on everything you can see in cairo? >> things appear to be much more calm. a curfew has been in effect in about four hours.
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the neighborhoods seem to be quiet. state tv is airing pictures of what appears to be an office building that's on fire. it's not clear who attacked that building. but when you take a step back and look at this conflict, it's not clear when it's going to end. what seems to be increasingly clear, wolf, is that this country is sliding deeper and deeper into turmoil. >> be careful over there, reza. >> lou eisa, you spent the day reporting in the square. what did you see there? >> reporter: people were very angry and they were chanting. there was nothing out of the ordinary. there was no violence as had been suggested in the egyptian media. however, when the atmosphere turned, it turned in a moment. as your correspondent said, there was gun fire coming from
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the bridge and suddenly it was coming from all angles down into the crowd. and you had hundreds of bodies being carried into a makeshift morgue. >> one of your tweets, you mentioned that mosque over there turned into a morgue at ramsey square. you were calling it chaos. what was it like inside? did you have a chance to get inside that mosque? >> reporter: i did and it was absolute chaos. it starts off with a trickle of bodies but then about half an hour into the shooting, people couldn't get through the door because so many bodies were being carried through. a lot of corps went straight into the makeshift morgue room and others had family that were trying to address gunshot wounds who had no experience whatsoever
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and many died on the ground. >> the security forces insist that the supporters of mohamed morsi, including muslim brotherhood elements, they start all this by shooting at police and they point out 40, 50 police officers yesterday were killed. from your eyewitness account, what did you see? who started the gun fire? >> reporter: it was very difficult to see from where i was standing who was at fault. i was speaking to a senior pathologist and he said he hasn't autopsied near that many of policemen. he wouldn't put a number on the number of police who died, he said there had been a number but he did seem to believe the interior ministry figure was rather fabricated. >> we know some journalists have been would you knowed and others actually killed. what's it like to cover these days of rage in cairo? >> reporter: for me personally
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it wasn't too bad today but there's definitely been an uptick in violence against journalists in the last three days. three days ago, had you a huge number of reporters from very prestigious outlets being arrested, i myself was shot at when i tried to get into the area to report what was happening. so it is increasingly unsafe but we're trying. >> be careful over there, louisa loveluck. also coming up, the republican national committee makes a decision about the 2016 republican national primary debates that could impact us at cnn and nbc as well. and details of a controversial chang in baseball. we'll have that coming up as
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we're cracking down on medicare fraud. let's make medicare stronger for all of us. the republican national committee has decided to freeze out two television networks from the television primary debates. it's approved a resolution sidelines cnn and nbc because of plans by both networks to produce programs about possible democratic candidate hillary clinton. and we're joined now from the rnc meeting in boston. peter, tell us how this decision went down. >> reporter: hey, wolf. the resolution the republican national committee passed today but essentially unanimous voice vote recommended the party will not partner with cnn or nbc in any republican primary debates in 2016. take a listen to what rnc
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chairman reince priebus said earlier today in introducing this resolution to the full committee here in boston. >> for the first time -- for the first time our party rules allow us to take action on these debates. so much it's time that we do what's right for our party and our candidates. and, by the way, it's the right thing to do for our voters. >> reporter: wolf, reince priebus's speech today was met with a raucous ovation here. this is something that republicans, both activists and party insiders in the republican national committee can get behind. they really, really want to limit the number of republican primary debates in 2016. there are 20 of them in 2012 and they thought it was crippling for the party in the general election, wolf. >> so where do we all go from here? what's next? >> reporter: well, it sort of
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depends. basically there's an out for cnn and nbc. the party says if the networks agree to drop the programming, then they will happily partner with nbc or cnn in the 2016 primary process. and the other thing i mention here, wolf, republicans are happy about this, the rnc is also generating lots of media attention, capturing e-mail addresses and probably raising a lot of money here. we can probably expect the rnc will keep flogging this issue unless nbc and cnn changes its mind about this. >> thanks very much, peter. cnn issued a statement in response to the republican decision. cnn films, a division of cnn worldwide commissioned a documentary about hillary clinton earlier this year. it is expected to premiere in 2014 with a theatrical run prior to airing on cnn. the cnn broadcast date has not
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been determined. it will be a nonfictional look at the life of a former first lady and secretary of state. the project is in the very early stages of development, months from completion with the most of the reporting and interviewing still to be done. therefore, speculation about final program is just that. we encouraged all interested parties to wait until the program premieres before judgments are made about it. unfortunately the rnc was not willing to do that. the script has not been written nor has it been ordered to production. nbc news said "nbc news is completely independent of nbc entertainment and has no involvement in this project. certainly some republicans know they have bigger problems on
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their hand than programs about hillary clinton as they head into the white house. the party may be worse off than it was before the last presidential election. that's what some reports are now suggesting. let's bring our chief national correspondent john king, he's got more on what's going on. what is going on in the gop, john? >> there's a big debate in the gop. it happens a lot in parties out of power. some look at this national map and say we have a huge problems. our issues with key constituencies are even worse when president obama won this sweeping electoral college victory in 2012. other republicans look at this map and say look at all this red in america, we kept our majority in the house, we have 30 governorships. some republicans argue it's not because the nominee was too conservative, they argue the nominee made the mistake of moving to the center. that's the debate in the party now. we do know in 2012 we know from the election the reason the president was able to win and win so convincingly, look at this. republicans lost the latino vote by 44 votes in 2012, lost the
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women vote by 11 points, lost the younger votes by 23 points. now there's new evidence among another key constituency the republicans are suffering. this is from polling from stan greenberg, a democrat but republicans don't dispute the elections. that group now over 65, their favorable opinion of the republicans party is only 28%, down 15 points from just a couple years ago. ask the elderly how are you going to vote in 2014, 46% say they'll vote republican. the republicans in 2010 had a 21-point advantage. look at the problem. you have a problem with latinos, a problem with women, younger voters and now a new headache with older voters. many are looking at this and saying the lessons learned in 2012 have not been learned and the party is in worse shape now
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than it was then. if you you're thinking about running for president, you see a huge problem. if you're thinking about keeping the house majority, a lot of republicans who look at that map say we don't really have a problem. we have losing presidential candidates but we're just fine. >> the executive branch of the u.s. government is very important. let's bring candy crowley into this conversation as well. these demographics that john just highlighted have been around for a while. >> they have been around. the republican party has long been seen as party of older white, mostly males. what's changed is the demographics of the country. and i remember talking to jim gilmore when he was head of the republican national committee decades ago and he said we've really got to get into these
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african-american communities with african-american supporters and be there not just on election day but throughout time. and nothing. so this is going to take a while for republicans to try to correct. i mean, the demographics are totally running against what is now the typical republican base. and it's going to take a while for them to reach out, it's going to take a couple of issues, it's not going to happen overnight. >> chris christie, the governor of new jersey up for reelection, he's expected to win decisively, even in a democratic state like new jersey. he's pretty blunt in discussing these issues. i'm play a little clip. he spoke at the rnc meetings in boston. we've got the audio. listen to this. >> for our ideas to matter, we have to win. because if we don't win, we don't govern. and if we don't govern, all we do is shout into the wind. and so i am going to do anything i need to do to win.
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>> he obviously wants to win. everybody wants to win. but this polarization within the gop, that could be a serious problem moving forward, trying to win over some of those votes. >> again, democrats went through this in the 1980s, 1972 george mcgovern lost 49 states. this is not new in our national politics. when you're out of power, you have this debate. bill clinton won the white house for the democrats, restored them to power. you have republican governors say listen to us. sure chris christie would concede what he would do is different from what rick scott might have to do in florida. they see gridlock in washington and they think that hurts the party. however, chris christie also said no navel gazing. some of those issue positions have hurt the party. >> but in the end the person who
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will ultimately decide what the party stands for is whoever their standard bearer is. and i think the truth of what chris christie just said is it really is about winning. look back at mitt romney. he was not the popular guy for the conservatives. why did they end up behind him? because they thought he could win. so never downplay the strength of electability. and to me this was chris christie saying i'm going to do whatever i can do to win, flash, flash, flash. you know? i'll do what i have to do to win. watch how i govern. >> reporter: who is on "state of the union" sunday? >> john mccain, we're going to talk to him and we're going to take a look at what's happened at the nsa and whether that changes any minds about collecting data. >> and a little politics as well. >> we'll have a lot of politics. >> coming up, a huge decision for major league baseball. could it change america's
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favorite pastime as we know it? i'll ask the radio voice of the los angeles dodgers, charlie steiner. plus a major new york city bridge engulfed in heavy black smoke. we're going to tell you what caused it and just how serious it is. stay with us. you're "the situation room." and i know the results will be fantastic! find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. ♪ hooking up the country whelping business run ♪ ♪ build! we're investing big to keep our country in the lead. ♪ load! we keep moving to deliver what you need. and that means growth, lots of cargo going all around the globe. cars and parts, fuel and steel, peas and rice, hey that's nice! ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪
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here's a look at some of the other stories we're monitoring in the situation room right now. students in moore, oklahoma are beginning a new school year just months after deadly tornadoes ravaged the town. 24 people were killed in the storm, including seven students from the plaza towers elementary
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school, which was destroyed. two dozen schools suffered millions of dollars in damages. the new superintendent says the community is strong, resilient and moving forward. good luck to everyone in moore. >> a massive truck fire on new york city's queensboro bridge sent black smoke billowing into the sky, shutting down traffic in both directions. no injuries were reported but the blaze triggered heavy smoke conditions in the area. the cause of the fire is under investigation. >> a cast member of the hit broadway show "spiderman" has been hospitalized after injuring his foot in last night's production. the show issued a statement today saying equipment malfunction was not a factor in the incident. "spiderman" was plagued with accidents in 2010 and 2011 when at least four our cast members were hurt. tonight's show will go on as scheduled. the show must go on. >> more pain for wall street today where stocks finished a
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second straight week in the red. the dow and nasdaq both down about 2%. the desclien has been rare so far this year. analysts caution it's not unusual for mid-august. questions about the federal reserve and broader economy could continue fueling concerns, though, threatening future gains. we'll watch it. >> when we come back, a fresh round of deadly clasheses and bloodshed in what's being called a friday of anger in egypt. what's fueling the violence? we'll have a debate just ahead. plus severe weather brewing off mexico's yucatan peninsula with the potential to become a major tropical storm. we're taking a closer look at what it could mean for the southeast, already getting soaked with heavy rain. help the gulf recover and learn from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts
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♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪ happening now, egypt erupts in a so-called friday of anger. >> and there's a new report revealing the nsa has overstepped its authority thousands of times and it's raising fresh concerns. and new jersey governor chris christie's call soon after being confronting of a very sick child over the use of medical marijuana. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."
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take a look at this. these are live pictures coming in from cairo. you see a building on fire there. in fact, a couple of buildings are on fire. this is near ramsey square. within one of these buildings is believed to be a government building. the other is a commercial building. supporters of the ousted mohamed morsi are angry, the government responding with lethal force. there's a curfew in cairo right now but as you can see, the blaze continues. dozens have been reported killed today in cairo, alexandria and beyond. they exchanged ferocious gunfire. reza witnessed the military fire on unarmed protesters as well. but it's unclear who started the shooting. this week's violence has claimed
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hundreds of lives, injured already more than 4,000 people. and joining us now is an egyptian diplomat currently at the national defense university here in washington d.c. also joining us from the washington institute for middle east policy in egypt. thank you for coming in. hundreds of people have been killed, thousands have been injured. how do you justify what's going on by the interim government and the military? >> it's a very unfortunate situation, wolf. i think one in which the government was left with very little -- very few good options. we've seen over the course of the last two weeks a number of international mediators trying to broker a political compromise. all of them failed. and the starting point for the muslim brotherhood was that we will not talk unless president morsi is reinstated as president of the republic.
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that of course was a nonstarter. now during that time we've seen the sit-ins in cairo take on a very ominous tone. we've had reports of torture that were actually documented by amnesty international -- >> by the supporters of morsi? >> by the supporters of morsi. >> i guess the question is what about water cannon or tear gas? why do you have to use lethal weapons to deal with these demonstrators? >> that's actually what happened, wolf. the police issued numerous warnings for the protesters to leave peacefully. they issued a warning for the women and children to leave the sit-ins. they started with the tear gas, they were responded to by live fire from within the sit-ins. among the casualty toll, which was high unfortunately, we had roughly 45 to 50 policemen killed by live fire. >> was there any alternative? was there something that could have avoided, eric, this kind of violence? >> i certainly think so. i respectfully disagree.
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i think the government had the option instead of cracking down on the protest simply trying to contain it. i agree there were no terrific options but the message from the united states to egypt should have been kiss, contain these protests don't crack down, move the rest of egypt forward. this is a relatively small number of people, you're talking about a country of 90 million, maybe the muslim brotherhood has 250,000 people. move the rest of the country forward. instead the military-backed government focused on these protesters, cracked down and what you have today is unfortunately chaos. >> karim, what about that? >> like i said, the protesters were actually turning violent. we've had reports of live gun fire from within the protests and this is not new for the muslim brotherhood. if you go back a year ago to the presidential elections, the brotherhood was making explicit threats that unless president morsi won the election, they would burn cairo down.
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and we've seen these threats play out time and time again. the threat of violence has always been there. >> the two senators who president obama sent to egypt, john mccain, lindsay graham, they're back here. they issued a joint statement and among other this eveninngs d identities it is neither in our long-term national interest nor consistent with our values and laws to continue providing assistance. we urge the obama administration to suspend u.s. assistance to egypt and make clear to the current leadership of the country what steps we believe are necessary to halt egypt's descent. >> right now, frankly given the current dynamics, i'm not convinced it would change its behavior at all. at the same time, we have to be very worried about whether this military-backed government
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really has any strategy. the death toll is rising. the very decision to crack down rather than contain i think was quite questionable, quite avoidable and just from what i'm hearing from egyptian officials, we just don't hear anything that sounds like a strategy to contain the violence, to end the violence and move forward to a political solution. >> what would happen if the u.s. ended that billion and a half dollar aid to egypt? it would have limited effect? >> we have situations where police stations are attacked by rpgs. we've had masked gunmen on the streets of cairo firing indiscriminately into residence areas. no government will tolerate such a situation. >> it's true that churches are being attacked but at the same time, churches are not being protected. i think that has to also be part of the conversation and it's important to communicate to the government that they are
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responsible for what happens moving forward. >> they're in deep trouble in egypt right now, that's a heart breaking story given the history of the coptic christian in egypt. thank you. >> thank you. >> when we come back, a huge decision for major league baseball. could it change america's favorite pastime as we know it? the radio voice of the dodgers, charlie steiner is here. and you'll find out with the federal government has been asked to step in over apps. i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you.
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baseball purists may be thinking say it ain't so, but it looks like major league baseball is about to greatly expand the use of instant replay. brian todd has been looking into what's going -- this is historic, brian. this is huge. share the details with our viewers. >> if this goes through, you're going to see something like those nfl challenge flags, the coaches throw on the nfl, those may be on major league baseball fields next year. baseball wants to eliminate the human error calls that cost teams game. but the big question is will challenges make the fan experience worse? channelling my inner play-by-play announcer, top of the fourth, no score between the mets and padres, soft grounder to the shortstop, play at first base looks like the runner's out but he's called safe. the umpire rules the padres first baseman has his foot off the bag. but look at the replay of that play thursday night. >> oh, he's on the base.
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>> bad call. >> another runner scored. they went on to win 4-1. it's that kind of play managers may be able to challenge and get reversed next year when the expansion of baseball's instant replay system may kick in. right now umpires can only review on replay boundary calls, including whether a potential home run is fair or foul. under the new system, managers will be able to formally challenge calls, not balls and strikes but plays at bases, fair balls, trapped balls versus legitimate catches. are we going to get more accurate calls in the future? will it be airtight when games can be decided like this? >> i think you're going to get more accurate calls. this is a pretty good example of a play they could turn around and possibly could change the game. >> jim mckean believes replay will change the game for better. in 2010, this pitcher was robbed
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of a perfect game. the umpire later admitted he got the call wrong. but there are other issues. under this proposals, managers will be allude one challenge in the first challenge of the game, two challenges from the seventh inning on. will all of that make an already slow game slower? too many challenges could slow the game to a crawl. but on the other hand, says analyst dan levy -- >> they're trying to cut down on the amount of time managers and umpires are arguing. they think it could streamlines process and make games faster. >> will the umpires go for all of this? the former umpire we've spoke to says they will. he's he said he's had games where he's blown calls and cost teams the game because of it and
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he said that's a tough thing to bring home. >> are we not going to see a manager come out of the dugout, run up to the ump, start kicking some dirt in that umpire's shoes, looking him in the face, start screaming? are we going to miss all that? >> those moments we all love in baseball. analysts say there will be a lot less of that. you're going to see a lot fewer of the cases where they can come out and kick dirt, pick up a base and throw it and some people say it's going to take away the fan experience. the fans love that stuff. >> certainly do but they want it to be right, too. >> you got to get it right. >> a good friend of mine, charles steiner, play-by-play announcer for the dodgers. what do you think of the decision? >> i think baseball has kept its distance from the 21st century
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and has come in kicking and screaming and replay, maybe the time has finally come. there have been too many mistakes. this is one way certainly to eliminate them. and again, the key thing is managers will have the opportunity to challenge once within the first six innings and twice from the seventh inning on. and if you are right and your challenge -- you can maintain that challenge up until the sixth inning or the seventh inning and beyond if you've got two. so at the end of the day managers can still come out and say unkind things to their friends, the umpires, and then demand the replay. in terms of slowing the game down, a good argument sometimes will take three minutes, four minutes before they finally eliminate the manager or the player, whoever it may be. on the other hand, this -- now can you get this thing done in a minute or two. >> just watch the videotape. so what are your colleagues out there, the sports -- the journalists, what are the
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players saying? what about the managers? what have you heard today? >> i think everybody is generally satisfied with this new ruling. they haven't gone overboard with it. again, you've got one within the first six and two challenges if need be from the seventh inning on. i think at the end of the day it is now the 21st century and baseball purists just have to get over it. >> it's interesting that they finally have decided this how many years after the nfl had instant replay, the nhl. everybody seemed to -- certainly nba. all of a sudden major league baseball is coming into the 21st century. why is it taking so long? >> technology has finally trumped sentimentality. >> that's it? >> pretty much. it's now the 21st century, a new game, new era, new generation. people get to see it on the internet, see it over and over again. it's one way to eliminate human
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error. >> we remember the perfect game that turned out not to be a perfect game. >> armando galarraga who was robbed of the perfect game, the umpire that called it is generally regarded as a very accurate umpire. >> coming up, children learning apps, what parents need to know. and a political call by governor chris christie, what it could mean for a 2-year-old girl suffering from epilepsy. i think farmers care more about the land
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parents are always looking for ways to both entertain and
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educate young children, but one group is now sounding an alarm about those so-called educational apps that claim to make your baby smarter. the federal government was asked to step in and now one of those baby app-makers is walking back some of its advertising claims. cnn's rene marsh is here in "the situation room." she's got the details. so, what's going on? >> that's right, there's one company by the name of open solutions. they claim their software would educate your baby. and one consumer group filed a false advertising complaint. now the company has changed their advertising, and the complaint has been dropped, but there's another company still claiming that a swipe here and a tap there could make your child smart. >> "q," quail. >> reporter: 20-month-old steger loves playing on the ipad. his mom, jody pratt, says it keeps him occupied and may even help him learn. so, your expectation as a mom for these apps is what? >> mostly just that he's
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occupied, entertained, and if it can be a little bit educational, all the better. >> reporter: pratt understands the limitation of these so-called learning apps. >> is it going to get them into harvard? not so much. >> reporter: but one consumer group says some companies leave parents with the wrong impression. the campaign for a commercial-free childhood still has a complaint filed with the federal trade commission against fisher-price, accusing the company of false advertising. >> claiming that their apps are educational for babies, that they teach numbers, letters, when the companies seem to have no evidence that that's, in fact, the case. >> reporter: we had steger play with the fisher-price learning letters app. do you feel as if he's making the connection that "u's" for umbrella, for example? >> maybe, maybe not. i mean, they're little sponges. they're learning everything all the time. >> reporter: fisher-price is behind the laugh & learn app. they say their goal is to make
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appropriate toys for the ways children play, discover and grow. bftc won't comment on the specific case, but it did explain how they approach false advertising investigations. >> we asked the company for its sub starks, for the science it has to back up its claims, and the law requires that advertising claims be supported by reliable evidence. >> reporter: the consumer group says the apps don't provide what babies need to learn. >> they need active play, they need time, face-to-face time with the adults who care for them. >> reporter: and that time together is something pratt agrees with. all right, well, the group that filed the claim ultimately wants the ftc to create guidelines for what these companies can and cannot claim, wolf, in their advertising. >> good report. thanks very much, rene marsh on the job for us. thank you. just ahead at the top of the hour, a major political decision for the new jersey governor.
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chris christie is under pressure from the father of a very sick child. and severe weather brewing off of mexico's yucatan peninsula with the potential to become something much more ominous. stand by. the postal service is critical to our economy.
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delivering mail, medicine and packages, yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service and want to layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it.
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so he can just focus on getting better. we're taking it one day at a time. one day at a time. [ male announcer ] see how the duck lessons are going at aflac.com vo:remember to changew that oil is the it on schedule toy car. keep your car healthy. one day at a time. show your car a little love with an oil change starting at $19.95. here's a look at this hour's "hot shots." in england, horses racing at race course. in the czech republic, who knew an albino crocodile swims in the zoo which has one of the rare species in europe. in australia, a man rides his horse during a track session at lady bay beach. in massachusetts, president obama rides a bike during his family vacation. hope he's relaxing and enjoying
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it. "hot shots," pictures from around the world. the national hurricane center is watching the tropical disturbance off mexico's yucatan peninsula with the potential to become a tropical storm in the next few days. it could create even more problems for parts of the southeast already getting hammered with heavy rain. let's bring in our chief meteorologist, the severe weather expert, chad myers. he's tracking the storm. what's going on, chad? >> well, the organization still isn't there, wolf, which means this isn't gaining any strength right now. the risk is that this is very warm water. this could explode at any time. and let me tell you, there's not even a computer program that's saying that. there are no models that are saying explosive growth, but it concerns me when you have a storm that could be so close to the u.s. that could generate something so quickly. you must watch it this weekend. the low is way over here. it's not even near here. this is where all the cloud cover is. that's why it's not organized. you need to have the cloud cover over the center for organization, and there is none right now.
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maybe 20 miles per hour. it doesn't even have a real number or a name yet. if it does get a name, it will be fernand. fernand, in fact, replaced the name felix, because felix retired six years ago. there you go. this is the storm's path possibly, all the way to mexico, maybe up toward houston into new orleans. still very little chance of any of that happening at this point in time. we'll watch the rainfall from a separate system, a stalled front across the southeast, and temperatures right now in atlanta, georgia, 66 tomorrow, not making it above 70, wolf. >> quickly what about this tropical storm erin that's out there? what's going on? >> basically a dead thing out here. it ran into a lot of dry air, it ran into some cooler water. it's going to get into warmer water right now, but there's so much dry air coming off africa, it is just a tropical depression and will stay that way and make a couple waves for the fish, that's it. >> that's good. thanks very much, chad myers reporting. >> you got it. happening now, chris christie makes a big decision on
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medical marijuana for children. did the suffering of one little girl sway the governor? we're going to hear from her dad. the death toll jumps after a day of rage on the streets of cairo. and an anxious israel is keeping a very close eye on egypt's unrest, but why is it keeping so quiet. and why did michelle obama give up on her bangs? the first lady opening up about her private life, including a very significant birthday. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we begin with a decision that's making both medical and political headlines, and all the while, a little girl who suffers from seizures is caught in the middle. late this afternoon, new jersey governor chris christie signaled he will make it easier for sick children to use medical marijuana, but his decision comes with several conditions. cnn's rosa flores is joining us from new york. she's got the latest. what's going on, rosa?
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>> well, wolf, the family of this 2-year-old girl who has become really the face of this issue, is calling this a small victory, in part because of those conditions that you mentioned. now, here is what this bill would do. three things. first of all, minors would only need approval from a pediatrician and a psychiatrist if one of those physicians is registered with the medical marijuana program. secondly, the three strain limits of marijuana available now in new jersey would be lifted. and it would allow medical marijuana in edible form for minors only. but you see, this bill sat on the governor's desk for about two months, which didn't sit well with brian wilson. >> i was wondering what the holdup is, because it's been two months now and it's very well documented. >> these are complicated issues -- >> please don't let my daughter die, governor. >> i want to warn you that the video you are about to see is
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difficult to watch. this is brian wilson's 2-year-old daughter, vivian wilson. she suffers from gervais syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. her father tells us she gets 20 to 70 minor seizures a day, averaging one major seizure every four days. now, she wears an eye patch because the patterns in the environment trigger more seizures and the wilson as believe ma medical marijuana can help their daughter. now in a statement, governor christi says that this is a common-sense recommendation to ensure that sick children receive the treatment their parents prefer. now, the governor did point out that the approach is endorsed after the american academy of pediatrics, but we should add that the american academy of pediatrics opposes cannabis. so, wolf, you know, aside from all of these politics, it's a very emotional issue for a lot of families. >> understandably so. rosa, thank you very much.
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just little while on cnn, jake tapper spoke with the man who literally begged governor christi to allow medical marijuana for his daughter and for other children. brian wilson calls the governor's decision a "small victory," but he added, the conditions make it "kind of ludicrous" at the same time. >> it's not what we were expecting. we had a few ideas of what he would be doing. there was a general consensus on what he might do. everybody expected a conditional veto, but this is kind of even lower than the worst-case conditional veto that we thought. so, while it is a small victory, he kind of, you know, put himself all over it and really just maintains the idea of making one of the worst medical marijuana programs in the country and one of the most unsafe medical marijuana programs in the country and really loves to insert the government in between the parents and the doctors. >> joining us now is our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta. his work on the cnn documentary
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on medical marijuana has caused it to change his own mind about the benefits. sanjay, so, what's your reaction to governor christie's decision? >> well, you know, i think he has eased some of these laws, you know, in making it possible, more possible, i think, for kids, including vivian, brian wilson's daughter, to get the therapy that could help her. you know, i think that there was a couple of issues that came up. first of all, many of these dispensaries were only allowing three strains of marijuana in the past, and that was concerning, because some of the strains that could be most helpful are actually strains that are high in cbd, the more medicinal part of marijuana, and low in thc, and that's something that could certainly help vivian. the other thing was, for example, she would not be smoking this, but rather, taking it as an edible, so turning it into an oil, that could also be quite beneficial as well. i think brian wilson has
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concerns, as you just heard there, about the fact that, you know, you need to have your prescribing doctor, your pediatrici pediatrician, as well as psychiatrist, to both authorize the prescription. that is how it is in other states as well, so i think he found that a bit onerous, but you know, it's a pretty common practice, and i think ultimately, vivian should hopefully be able to get the treatment that could help her. >> well, let me just quickly be blunt. if this little 2-year-old girl were to get this medical marijuana, sanjay -- [ inaudible ] >> i met a girl with almost the exact same situation, something known as dravet syndrome. it's a girl that was having 300 seizures a week. she's now down to three or four a month because of medical marijuana. and keep in mind, she was on lots of different antiseizure medications, seven of them at one time, and none of them
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really worked for her. if you look at about 41 kids now around the nation with dravet, all of them have had some improvement with medicinal marijuana. a majority of them, i would say, have been able to get off of all their other medications. so, friom that standpoint, the odds are on vivian's side. keep in mind, for years, even 100 years ago, we knew that medicinal marijuana could have an impact on convulsive disorders, the very thing that vivian and charlotte have. >> sanjay, in your new documentary, "weed," you went to israel, you got a firsthand look at how israeli medical experts were dealing with medical marijuana. they're on the front lines of this issue. let me play a little clip from your documentary. >> this is israel's largest hospital, shiva medical center. >> a little medical cannabis. >> he is using marijuana to help him with the pain and nausea from chemotherapy.
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>> filling up this balloon. so, that's your medicine inside of there. >> now take it out. >> and he's doing it inside the hospital. how are you feeling? >> it really helps with the muscles in the leg. >> and you're not worried about any potential damage to your body? >> not at all. i really believe i can be cancer-free for a long time if i continue, you know, consume cannabis. >> yes, he said cancer-free. very early studies on mice in israel, spain and the united states are now showing the potential of marijuana to kill cancer cells. it's exciting research, but it is still in its infancy, and it's inconclusive. this program at shiba is well established, and experts say a teaching tool for using marijuana in other hospitals.
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>> sanjay, do you foresee u.s. hospitals, american doctors using medical marijuana in that way any time soon? >> you know, it's so hard to say, wolf. i mean, i think that, you know, earlier, i had mentioned that i think this is an area that both sides agree on, the need for more research, but it's difficult to get research studies approved the way things stand right now, wolf. in addition to getting, you know, if it's a cancer study, for example, getting the national cancer institute to approve it. in order to get the substrait, or marijuana for the study, the national institute of drug abuse has to allow that to happen. and remember, this is the national institute on drug abuse. their mission is to study drug abuse. their mission is not to study the potential benefits of drugs, including marijuana. so, i would like to see more research done. i think, again, everyone agrees on that. but i think part of the structure of how this all works is going to have to change in order for that to happen. >> sanjay, thanks very much. thanks for your excellent work
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on this subject. and i want to just point out to our viewers, dr. gupta's excellent documentary, "weed," will re-air tonight, 10:00 p.m. eastern, right here on cnn. if you didn't see it, watch it. and if you actually saw it, you may want to watch it a second time. up next, the bloody struggle between egypt's military and islamists. critically important to israel at the same time, neighbors egypt. why are the israelis keeping so quiet? we're going to jerusalem. and as russia's new antigay law casts a cloud over the upcoming olympic games, a prominent american athlete is now speaking out while in russia. [ man ] look how beautiful it is.
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vehicles deployed at key positions, the protesters marched through cairo. [ shots ] but as gunfire echoed throughout the capital, they scattered in panic as they crossed the bridge. the death toll now topping 600 with another 17 people reported killed in cairo today and at least 16 dead in alexandria. thousands of people have stayed on the streets tonight, despite a strict curfew. right now there's a huge building on fire right in the center of cairo. cnn's reza sayyed was right there during the violence. here's how he described it. >> reporter: this face-off is really intensifying and now involving sporadic gunfire. we witnessed about 20 heavily armed police officers who are blocking these protesters from moving forward towards ramses square. and as we're talking, we're hearing more gunfire.
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there's another gunshot. it's very difficult to determine what's happening, because as in the past, it's very likely that supporters of former president mohamed morsi have weapons. i know we have to go, but here's someone who appears to be injured. >> reza, we'll stay with you. >> reporter: okay. okay, let's go see what's happened here. >> stop the video! stop the video! stop the video! >> reporter: okay, this is someone who appears to be injured. i see a hole in his thigh. come this ways again? okay. okay. it looks like he's been shot and he looks remarkably calm, but i saw what appears to be a bullet wound in his leg. and as we've seen so often, one of the fellow demonstrators
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taking him on a motorcycle away, and then i think we have another person who's injured. we have another person who appears to be injured on the ground here. okay, we'll see if we can -- okay. this is just an awful, awful scene. and we can tell you, this particular route through ramses square has been blocked off as we look at what appears to be more people injured coming from the front lines. but it's important, it's important to stress that we're not all over the city. we're in a very small location. we're not sure what's happening in other locations. but based on what we've observed, these were -- [ speaking foreign language ] okay. people are warning us. >> that's okay. reza, you go ahead and get to a safer place. we will come back to you and we thank you for your updates
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there. reza sayah in cairo. >> that was paula newton talking to reza sayah as that was unfolding. he's okay, i just want to reassure our viewers. but all our journalists right now in cairo watching the situation very, very carefully. it's a dangerous situation and we have some new video that's just coming into "the situation room." we want to warn you, it is very graphic. in what could become an iconic image of this violent struggle, we see protesters approach a tank as gunfire breaks out. they flee except for one man who stands with arms outstretched until he's shot and falls to the ground. watch this. [ shots ]
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shocking images, i must say. it's very disturbing, this video, reminiscent, i must say, also that classic image from china's tiananmen square of a lone protester defying tanks. there you see that lone protester. the struggle between egypt's security forces and islamists has extraordinary implications for neighboring israel. officials there are keeping a very close eye on egypt's unrest. they are also remaining silent. and jim clancy is joining from us jerusalem right now. jim, the israelis, there's almost like a thunderous silence coming from the israeli government on what's going on in egypt right now. what are you hearing over there? >> reporter: well, you know, wolf, i talked this day with mark rega, the spokesperson for prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and he flat out told me we're not saying anything on egypt. he wouldn't be pressed on or off
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the record, nothing on background. they are, indeed, remaining silent. but anonymous sources within the israeli leadership have talked to cnn, and they have said that while they see the situation there with great concern, they believe that only the military is going to be able to maintain control of the country and prevent it from sliding into chaos. at the same time, they're very concerned about the militants in the sinai, pimilitants who have fired or tried to fire missiles into israel in the past week alone. you know, there was a purported raid by israel by drone or otherwise that killed some militants in the sinai. now, that would have been a violation of the sovereignty of egypt, but the military in egypt very quick to come out and say flatly, well, that never happened. they're looking at that rather favorably. also, they're looking at the crackdown on hamas. you know, shortly after morsi was deposed, the egyptian
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military went after hamas, an ally of the muslim brotherhood, and destroyed some of the tunnels, or most of the tunnels that lead into gaza. this cripples hamas's ability to bring cash and arms into gaza. the israelis see that as a good development. wolf? >> the israelis never had a good relationship with the muslim brotherhood. they have a good relationship, though, military to military between the israeli military and the egyptian military, so i assume, if you speak privately with israelis, they want to see the united states continue its military assistance to egypt. >> reporter: certainly. you know, once again, they see the military as that only source that can maintain control here. it is not a comfortable feeling looking at one of your borders and seeing your neighbor facing the kind of crisis that egypt is facing tonight. and i think there's a lot of concern that money is going to be needed by the egyptian military to maintain that kind
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of order, to try to bring some stability here. and as a result of all of that, they are probably encouraging washington to continue with its current policy. now, these killings in the streets make it difficult. we saw where the united states had to cancel its joint military maneuvers with egypt. i think a lot of people in israel tonight are hoping it doesn't go so far as canceling the more than $1 billion in aid that egypt's military gets annually. wolf? >> lots at stake, certainly for egypt, but for israel, the entire region, including the united states. jim clancy in jerusalem for us. thanks very much. and this just in to "the situation room." we're getting new information on that fiery crash of a u.p.s. cargo plane. also, why did michelle obama give up on her bangs? the first lady opening up about her private life and the possibility of a female president. [ female announcer ] a classic macaroni & cheese from stouffer's starts with freshly-made pasta,
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all right, we're just getting this into "the situation room." investigators from the national transportation safety board are finding what they call good data on the recorders from the u.p.s. cargo jet that crashed in birmingham, alabama. cnn's rene marsh watched the briefing. it just ended. what did you learn? >> we know that ntsb member robert sumwall is breathing a sigh of relief this evening. they were able to pull the good data from the badly damaged recorders from the u.p.s. cargo plane. an initial review suggests there were no signs anything was wrong in the cockpit until the final 15 seconds of the flight.
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then three things happened in a rapid succession. an automated warning system can be heard alerting pilots "sink rate, sink rate," indicating the plane was descending too quickly. right after that, a pilot is heard saying the runway is in sight, then impact. we know that it cleared trees short of the runway and both pilots died. one additional detail. we do know that this was the end of the pilot's work day, so this will likely spark interest among cargo pilots. we know that the faa issued new work hour rules for commercial airline pilots to give them more rest, but they exempted cargo pilots. so, we know the ntsb will be looking into whether fatigue played a role. we know that those pilots were very experienced. we're expecting another briefing tomorrow, wolf. >> we'll stay in touch with you. thanks for the information, rene. up next, the white house just reacted to those new
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i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." days after president obama vowed to protect your privacy rights and make national security surveillance more transparent, there's a new report that is raising fresh concerns. documents leaked by edward snowden and published in the "washington post" show the agency has overstepped its authority thousands of times. often, the unauthorized harvesting of phone calls and e-mails has been accidental, like confusing the area code for washington, d.c., with the area code for a country, a country code in this specific case, for egypt. our white house correspondent, dan lothian, reports. >> reporter: revelations in the "washington post" raise new questions about whether the snooping violates privacy laws and comes just a week after president obama trumpeted safeguards that he says help minimize the risk to americans' privacy. >> checks are in place, and
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those abuses would be against the law and would be against the orders of the fisk. >> reporter: an internal nsa audit and other top-secret files revealed there were more than 2,000 violations in a recent 12-month period, mostly unintentional. the nsa says when mistakes are made, the agency reports the issue internally and to federal overseers and aggressively gets to the bottom of it. but the new report raises concerns about that balance of power. the "washington post" reported the chair of the senate intelligence committee, dianne feinstein, wasn't even aware of the audit until it was reported in the paper. feinstein disputes that, but in a statement admitted the committee can and should do more to independently verify that nsa's operations are appropriate and its reports of compliance incidents are accurate. and the top judge on the secretive court that approves surveillance programs said judges aren't able to
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independently verify whether the government violates the law, saying that they are "forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the court." critics have been demanding more oversight. >> why is the government spying on its own people? >> reporter: and even prominent democrats are troubled. nancy pelosi called the new report extremely disturbing. congressman jim langevin deeply concerned. cracks in the public trust seem to widen after embarrassing testimony by the director of national intelligence, james clapper, in a senate hearing last march. >> does the nsa collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of americans? >> no, sir. >> it does not? >> not wittingly. there are cases where they could inadvertently, perhaps, collect, but not wittingly.
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>> reporter: clapper later apologized for what he called clearly erroneous testimony. late today, the white house finally weighed in on these latest developments, defending the nsa. white house deputy spokesman josh ernest saying in a quote, "this administration is committed to ensuring that privacy protections are carefully adhered to and continually reviewing ways to effectively enhance privacy procedures." wolf, these latest revelations no doubt throwing more heat on the debate between privacy versus security. >> dan lothian out in martha's vineyard with the president, where he's vacationing. thanks very much, dan, for that. let's bring in our national security contributor, fran townsend, security adviser to president bush. she serves on the cia's external advisory board. thanks, fran, for coming in. i think it's fair to say we wouldn't know about any of this if it weren't for edward snowden, is that right? >> that's mostly right, wolf. look, there are regular reports
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filed with congress. senator dianne feinstein acknowledged as much today in a public statement, about these missteps. when there's an inadvertent collection or there's a mistaken collection, those things have to be reported to congress, and they do that on a regular basis. >> but that would be secret stuff. >> that's right. >> the public wouldn't have a clue about any of this if it had not been for snowden's leaks. >> no, that's right, that's exactly right. but let's be clear, wolf, there are reasons for that, right? and there are procedures. there are inspectors general and there are these reports to congress, there's oversight by the justice department of the nsa programs. there's a number of ways that these problems get picked up, reported, and the oversight gets reported to the foreign intelligence surveillance court. >> i guess the question is, even if he broke the law, and some day maybe he'll be tried, won't be tried, who knows if he's ever going to be back here in the united states. does he deserve any credit for releasing this information? >> well, this is one of these, you may like the fact that you now know about it, but he went about it the wrong way.
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i mean, i think you can't condone the way he went about this. there were options for him, whether it was reporting to congress, reporting to an inspector general, to respect the fact that he filed an agreement that he would not disclose classified information and he violated that, and that's the essence of the government's case against him. >> the president we just heard in dan lothian's piece said checks are in place. and then all of a sudden, we learn about this in the "washington post" today. are more shoes likely to drop? because we have no idea what other stuff snowden may have taken from the u.s. government and given to the "washington post" or "the guardian" or anyplace else. >> right. no, look, i think we and the government have to presume that there's additional information that hasn't come out that edward snowden has leaked to the press in violation of his nondisclosure agreement. so, yes, i do, but the president -- >> you expect more shoes to drop? >> i do expect more shoes to drop, but the president's right, there is a process of oversight. we can argue about whether or not that's adequate, and i think that's the whole point the president's making about having
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a board review this. look, he has a privacy and civil liberties board that took an awfully long time to get appointed. that's what they ought to be doing as well, looking at the policies related to these surveillance programs. >> so, instead of waiting, though, for more shoes to drop, should the government just drop them themselves, make all this information public and then move on? >> well, i suspect that there's a good amount of internal debate about that, right? because some of these, what you want to do is use the time before it becomes public to try to minimize the damage. some of it you can't minimize and you hope they choose not to leak. and then there is also, of course, an ongoing dialogue with the press about, asking, making the case why the press shouldn't disclose certain things they may now be aware of until the government can take appropriate action. >> well, the "washington post" we do know sat on this information for a few months, then they finally released it today. all right, we'll see what happens next, fran. thanks very much for coming in. up next, as russia's new antigay law casts a cloud over the upcoming olympic games in russia, a prominent american athlete is speaking out while
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still in russia. but first, a month from tonight, "cross fire" returns to cnn. take a look at this "crossfire" classic, introduced by our new host, newt gingrich. >> one of the great virtues of "crossfire" is that it introduces new names, new people, new stars, gives you a chance to measure folks you've never heard of before and hear from 15 years ago as an example of just that, a brand-new paul ryan, elected but not yet even sworn in, describing what he believes in, what philosophy he follows. and i must say, i don't think he has aged a day. take a look at it and you decide. >> is your philosophy that you should vote the way your constituents want because it is a democracy, or is your philosophy that you are what you truly believe, and if your constituents don't like it, too bad? >> this is a great question, and this is a question that i
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campaigned on. you campaign on a specific set of ideas and principles. that's what i campaigned on. i campaign ede a very specific philosophy that i believed in. having articulated that philosophy and those beliefs, i do believe that once elected, you have the moral authority to act on that philosophy. that is exactly what we need in washington. we don't need people who are following the whims of public opinion polls but who are fighting for certain principles they believe in. >> paul ryan's still fighting for what he believes in. he'll be on the new "crossfire," and the future of pl ryans on the democrat and republican side are also showing up, so you get to meet the stars of the future. getting the right nutrition during your busy day can be a challenge. take control of your nutrition with each delicious bar provides boost bars are perfect with a meal or as a nutritious snack. plus, they are available in chocolate and peanut butter chocolate flavors.
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a prominent u.s. athlete is speaking out against russia's new antigay law, partly because of something he watched, what he saw on cnn. he is bringing home a medal from the track and field world championships in moscow, but he's also slamming the controversial, new law declaring it sparking the defining civil rights movement of our time. from moscow, here's cnn's phil black. >> reporter: nick simmons wrote a blog before the world athletics championships explaining his opposition to russia's antigay propaganda law, but he says when he arrived in moscow, his intention was to stay silent. he had a job to do, he wanted to respect mush russia, its people and laws and not be accused of breaching the laws. but after winning silver in the men's 800 meters, he says he couldn't in good conscience stay silent, and he says one of his motivations for speaking out against the law was video of the gay rights protest he saw on cnn. >> that really powerful thing.
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you had two russian women kissing in a street and a man coming and shoving them to the ground based on nothing more than they wanted to express their love for each other. i was just appalled and i couldn't stay silent ning anymore. >> reporter: the antigay propaganda law makes it illegal to promote data that gay relationships are equal to straight anywhere children could possibly see or hear it. the russian government says it's not discriminatory, it's just there to protect children. symmonds disagrees and supports athletes making public statements in support of russia's gay community, but he doesn't want athletes to boycott next year's winter olympics in the russian city of sochi. >> to say you can come here and be heterosexual and talk about it, that's cool, but you can't come here and be homosexual and talk about being homosexual. that's saying this portion of people have these rights and this portion of people have these different rights. that is discriminatory and it's wrong. >> reporter: russian world champion pole vaulter elaina has
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made headlines by seeming to defend the controversial law, saying people and gay athletes are welcome in russia, but they shouldn't publicize their personal choices. that, she says, would be disrespectful to russian people. she describes russians as normal and says women live with boys, boys with women here. but she's since released a statement saying she believes her comments were misunderstood. in the statement, she says she is opposed to discrimination based on sexuality. phil black, cnn, moscow. coming up, michelle obama's talking about her family, her hair, the prospects of a woman president. but first, the country music star kellie pickler loves entertaining u.s. troops. the granddaughter of a retired marine impacts her world through song. hey, there. i'm kellie pickler. i come from a military family. i've always had great respect for our servicemen and women. i work a lot with the uso. i love working with them and we've been able to go do so many
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tours overseas. where are my girls at? all right! to be in a position where you can take a little piece of home to your servicemen and women, why would you not do that? because they need to know that we have their backs because they have ours. it's just the right thing to do. that's why i do it. the uso, they've been doing this for over 60 years. you cannot compare those shows to any other shows that you do. i wish i could just donate my whole time to just doing those tours because i'd do it in a heartbeat. i love it. join the movement. impact your world and you can be a part of something really special. the recent increase in cafeteria prices is not cool. when you vote for flo, we'll have discounts.
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first lady michelle obama's opening up about her private life. a significant birthday and why she tried and then abandoned her bangs. cnn's athena jones is here and has the details about what the first lady is saying. >> hi, wolf, about the bangs the first lady said she's no longer sporting them because, quote, it's hard to make speeches with hair in your face. that's one of the topics she covers in a "parade" magazine interview out this weekend. >> reporter: michelle obama opening up to "parade" magazine about raising her children. what i tell my kids is i'm preparing you for college and life. so having independence, knowing
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how to set your own boundaries, faffing i figuring out how to set that balance. >> as a busy single mother or i should say single as a busy mother -- >> reporter: the first lady told "parade" i give my husband credit, he knows who their friends are, he knows what their schedule but he's not making the calls to the dance studio to figure out what classes they're taking next year. mrs. obama has made it a point to promote healthy eating with her own white house garden and exercise often serving as first example. ♪ taking on jimmy fallon in a fitness battle and teaching workout moves to kids. and the coveted cover model is not above a little vanity as she approaches 50. i have never felt more confident in myself, more clear as who i am as a woman. i want to be this really fly, 80, 90-year-old. i asked her former campaign chief of staff stephanie cutter how she'll be remembered.
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>> fun, passionate, a good mom, a great spouse, somebody that so many women across this country can relate to. >> reporter: when it comes to presidential politics and whether there will be a female commander in chief in her lifetime, mrs. obama says, yes, i think the country is ready for it. it's just a question of who's the best person out there. and while she insisted that she will never run for president, mrs. obama wouldn't comment on whether another first lady, by the name of hillary clinton, could get the job, saying she didn't want to get ahead of any announcement clinton might make. wolf? >> good political point from that. thanks very much. very good interview, by the way, in parade magazine. >> yeah. let's take a look at the top stories in "the situation room." this was a very poignant first day for goschool in moore, oklahoma, classes resumed for the first time since the tornado tore through the suburb last may.
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schools that took direct hits are attending classes in alternate locations. things were pretty emotional when the superintendent welcomed everyone back. >> today is sweet to me. it's so good to see the smiling faces of this school. sitting here in front of me. this is about family. this is my extended family. this is your extended family. >> moore still needs help fixing up and repairing its schools. to find out how you can help, go to our impact your world website at cnn.com/impact. federal grand jury in oregon has indicted a member of romania's royal family and her husband for allegedly running an illegal cockfighting and gambling organization. a judge just ruled they'll be freed until their trial. this a little bit hard to see but if that an in the cage
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looks more like a dog than a lion, that's because it is a dog. officials at a chinese zoo said they put a tibetan mastiff in the lion's cage out of safety concerns. angry visitors accused the zoo of cheating them and took to social media to express their outrage. up next, remember last week, we took you aboard a boat where researchers are hauling up giant sharks. now we have new pictures of a great white shark being captured and tagged. wait until you see this. when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals:
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our brian todd took you to the waters off cape cod last week where scientists have been hauling up some very dangerous sharks onto their boat. now we have new pictures of a great white shark being captured and tagged. brian's back. he's got the details, brian, pretty amazing stuff. >> great stuff, wolf, we were with the research vessel "osearch" they've been trying to tag great white sharks, thursday they finally got one, her name is betsy. we'll play the video in just a second. the measurements of betsy, 12'7" and 400 pounds and she's considered an immature shark because these babies can get up to about 5,000 pounds. we'll play you some of the video and let you hear some of the sounds and see the sights of their capture of betsy yesterday. take a listen and look.
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>> lined up, lines up. >> whoa, whoa, whoa. >> that was a shorty. >> how about a lateral vein? anyone want to try a lateral vein? >> they have to guide betsy in and put her on the platform and they have 15 minutes to take tissue and blood samples. they have 15 minutes to put a tag on the dorsal fin, what's really cool about this process they then let the shark go and they have something called the global shark tracker where you can go to osearch.org and track the tagged sharks anywhere in the world, they've gone from the coast of cape cod all the way down to south africa. where is betsy? shark tracker has put her off of the wildlife refuge on cape cod. look how close she came. this is updated every hour. she could have very well been very recently been today just off the coast there but one thing we have to tell you she
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only sends a signal when she surfaces and the dorsal fin with the tag on it with the satellite-enabled tag is near or at the surface. they got a ping earlier today where she was right here. she swam a little bit east, but when she goes to depth they can't get any signal from betsy, so at the last word, and they update this every hour on osearch.org their global shark tracker, this is where betsy was. hadn't migrated too far off the coast of cape cod. by the way, this is a wildlife refuge, not very many beachgoers on here, very hard to access by foot. in some places you can only get to it by boat. really not many beachgoers here and not in danger from this, so she's creeping around in this area, wolf, this is the whole point of it, wolf, they don't know anything about how these sharks migrate, how they feed, where they breed, and this will help them gather that research in an effort to save the great white sharks, wolf. >> amazing stuff, brian todd, thank you very much. remember, you can always follow what's going on here in

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